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General Motors (GM) to Acquire Voyage, Ramps Up AV Game
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General Motors’ (GM - Free Report) majority-owned self-driving car start-up, Cruise, is set to acquire Voyage — a self-driving startup that spun out of online education company, Udacity.
Reportedly, the majority of Voyage’s 60-person team will shift to Cruise and Voyage’s co-founder and CEO Oliver Cameron will assume the role of vice president of the product. However, financial terms of the deal have been kept under wraps.
Cruise + Voyage: A Formidable Union
Self-driving car or autonomous vehicle (AV) technology is a revolutionary breakthrough in the automotive industry. AVs are no longer a figment of imagination in the era of artificial intelligence and are radically transforming travel.
The race to get self-driving vehicles on the road has been heating up in the past couple of years, with multiple companies like Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) , Ford (F - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) -owned self-driving car pioneer Waymo, making remarkable progress in this sector.
Amid this transforming scenario, the acquisition of Voyage by Cruise is a win-win deal for both the companies.
Cruise is the only AV company with the ability to produce fully integrated self-driving vehicles at a global manufacturing scale. Cruise holds a dominant position in the self driving landscape thanks to its state-of-the-art technology, unique auto-maker partnerships, and all-electric purpose-built vehicle sans human controls.
Last year, Cruise unveiled its Origin driverless electric shuttle, which has no steering wheel, pedals or other manual controls. The company has been pushing for a first-mover advantage in autonomous vehicle services and has operated a limited autonomous vehicle ride-hailing fleet with a human attendant in Phoenix since 2018. The company recently unveiled a new set of safety protocols intended to keep people socially distant during trips and the vehicle sanitized between fares. Recently, Cruise has teamed up with Microsoft to help accelerate its research.
Voyage, which was founded in 2017, is a small self-driving startup compared to well-funded companies like Cruise, Argo AI and Waymo. Voyage has always been committed to leveraging its limited resources to deliver a product that provides mobility to customers who are in dire need of it i.e. senior citizens.
While Cruise deployed its fully autonomous vehicles (AV) in the densely populated areas of San Francisco last year, Voyage operates a fleet of AV in two retirement communities, one near San Jose, CA, and the other north of Orlando, FL. Both companies have tested their vehicles without a human attendant and aspire to launch a full-fledged robotic taxi service.
Cruise is well-positioned to deliver the best self-driving product in the world with the addition of the customer-service focused Voyage team. Voyage’s remarkable team is highly effective and resourceful, with first-hand experience in providing an AV solution that will help enhance Cruise’s efforts to build a game-changing self-driving vehicle. In fact, Cruise is optimistic about using the unique advantages possessed by Voyage to deliver the safest and most affordable transportation solution for everyone.
This acquisition is the latest addition to the trend of mergers in the relatively nascent AV industry. However, we are yet to see how fruitful and worthwhile this union will prove.
Shares of the company have appreciated 39.2% year to date, compared with the industry’s growth of 4.9%.
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In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?
Last year's 2020 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.
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General Motors (GM) to Acquire Voyage, Ramps Up AV Game
General Motors’ (GM - Free Report) majority-owned self-driving car start-up, Cruise, is set to acquire Voyage — a self-driving startup that spun out of online education company, Udacity.
Reportedly, the majority of Voyage’s 60-person team will shift to Cruise and Voyage’s co-founder and CEO Oliver Cameron will assume the role of vice president of the product. However, financial terms of the deal have been kept under wraps.
Cruise + Voyage: A Formidable Union
Self-driving car or autonomous vehicle (AV) technology is a revolutionary breakthrough in the automotive industry. AVs are no longer a figment of imagination in the era of artificial intelligence and are radically transforming travel.
The race to get self-driving vehicles on the road has been heating up in the past couple of years, with multiple companies like Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) , Ford (F - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) -owned self-driving car pioneer Waymo, making remarkable progress in this sector.
Amid this transforming scenario, the acquisition of Voyage by Cruise is a win-win deal for both the companies.
Cruise is the only AV company with the ability to produce fully integrated self-driving vehicles at a global manufacturing scale. Cruise holds a dominant position in the self driving landscape thanks to its state-of-the-art technology, unique auto-maker partnerships, and all-electric purpose-built vehicle sans human controls.
Last year, Cruise unveiled its Origin driverless electric shuttle, which has no steering wheel, pedals or other manual controls. The company has been pushing for a first-mover advantage in autonomous vehicle services and has operated a limited autonomous vehicle ride-hailing fleet with a human attendant in Phoenix since 2018. The company recently unveiled a new set of safety protocols intended to keep people socially distant during trips and the vehicle sanitized between fares. Recently, Cruise has teamed up with Microsoft to help accelerate its research.
Voyage, which was founded in 2017, is a small self-driving startup compared to well-funded companies like Cruise, Argo AI and Waymo. Voyage has always been committed to leveraging its limited resources to deliver a product that provides mobility to customers who are in dire need of it i.e. senior citizens.
While Cruise deployed its fully autonomous vehicles (AV) in the densely populated areas of San Francisco last year, Voyage operates a fleet of AV in two retirement communities, one near San Jose, CA, and the other north of Orlando, FL. Both companies have tested their vehicles without a human attendant and aspire to launch a full-fledged robotic taxi service.
Cruise is well-positioned to deliver the best self-driving product in the world with the addition of the customer-service focused Voyage team. Voyage’s remarkable team is highly effective and resourceful, with first-hand experience in providing an AV solution that will help enhance Cruise’s efforts to build a game-changing self-driving vehicle. In fact, Cruise is optimistic about using the unique advantages possessed by Voyage to deliver the safest and most affordable transportation solution for everyone.
This acquisition is the latest addition to the trend of mergers in the relatively nascent AV industry. However, we are yet to see how fruitful and worthwhile this union will prove.
General Motors currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shares of the company have appreciated 39.2% year to date, compared with the industry’s growth of 4.9%.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?
Last year's 2020 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.
Access Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021 today >>